The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in the city of Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Raiders began play in 1960 as the eighth charter member of the American Football League (AFL), where they won one championship and three division titles. The team joined the NFL in 1970 as part of the AFL-NFL merger. Since joining the NFL, the Raiders have won twelve division titles and three Super Bowls (XI, XV, XVIII), and have appeared in two other Super Bowls. Thirteen former players have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
During their first three seasons, the Raiders struggled both on and off the field. In 1963, Al Davis was brought to the team as head coach and general manager, and from 1963 until 2002 the team had only seven losing seasons. He also initiated the use of team slogans such as "Pride and Poise," "Commitment to Excellence," and "Just Win, Baby"-all of which are registered trademarks. Except for a brief term as AFL Commissioner in 1966, Davis has been with the team continuously. Upon his return to Oakland in 1966, he became a managing partner of the franchise.
After a few years of legal battles, Davis moved the team from Oakland to Los Angeles, California in 1982. While in Los Angeles, the Raiders won their third Super Bowl, but made just two playoff appearances through the rest of the 1980s. In 1995, Davis moved the team back to Oakland. In 2000, head coach Jon Gruden led Oakland to a 12-4 season and their first division title since 1990 which was the first of a 3 year winning streak for the Raiders in the AFC west division the following two seasons. In 2002, Under head coach Bill Callahan, Oakland faced Gruden's Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII, where the team lost a lopsided affair, 48-21. Following the loss, the Raiders won a league-worst 24 games during the six full seasons from 2003-2008 (two fewer wins than the 26 posted by the next worst team, the Detroit Lions).
Franchise History
The early years (1960-1962)
A few months after the first AFL draft in 1959, the owners of the yet-unnamed Minneapolis expansion team accepted an offer to join the established National Football League as an expansion team (now called the Minnesota Vikings) in 1961, sending the AFL scrambling for a replacement. At the time, Oakland seemed an unlikely venue for a professional football team. The city had not asked for a team, there was no ownership group and there was no stadium in Oakland suitable for pro football (the closest stadiums were in Berkeley and San Francisco) and there was already a successful NFL franchise in the Bay Area: the San Francisco 49ers. However, the AFL owners selected Oakland after Los Angeles Chargers owner Barron Hilton threatened to forfeit his franchise unless a second team was placed on the West Coast. Accordingly, the city of Oakland was awarded the eighth AFL franchise on January 30, 1960, and the team inherited the Minneapolis club's draft picks.
Upon receiving the franchise, Oakland civic leaders found a number of businesspeople willing to invest in the new team. A limited partnership was formed to own the team headed by managing general partner Y. Charles (Chet) Soda, a local real estate developer, and included general partners Ed McGah, Robert Osborne, F. Wayne Valley, restaurateur Harvey Binns, Don Blessing, and contractor Charles Harney as well as numerous limited partners. A "name the team" contest was held by a local newspaper, and the winner was the Oakland Senors. After a few weeks of being the butt of local jokes the fledgling team (and its owners) changed the team's name to the Oakland Raiders, which had finished third in the naming contest. The original team colors were black, gold and white. The now-familiar team emblem of a pirate (or "raider") wearing a football helmet was created, reportedly a rendition of actor Randolph Scott.
When the University of California, Berkeley refused to let the Raiders play home games at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, they chose Kezar Stadium in San Francisco as their home field. The team's first regular season home game was played on September 11, 1960, a 37-22 loss to the Houston Oilers. Raiders games were broadcast locally on KNBC (680 AM; the station later became KNBR), with Wilson K. (Bud) Foster(Foster, was the Voice of the University of California, Golden Bears) handling play-by-play and Mel Venter providing color analysis. When the Raider games were on KDIA (1310 AM) Bob Blum, did the play-by-play and Dan Galvin, did the color. In 1966, Bill King was hired for the play-by-play and Oakland Tribune sports writer, Scotty Sterling as color man.
The Raiders were allowed to move to Candlestick Park for the final three home games of the 1960 season after gaining the approval of San Francisco's Recreation and Park Commission, marking the first time that professional football would be played at the new stadium. The change of venue failed to attract larger crowds for the Raiders, with announced attendance of 12,061 (vs. the Chargers in a 41-17 loss on December 4), 9,037 (vs. the Oilers in a 31-28 loss on December 11) and 7,000 (estimated, vs. the Broncos in a 48-10 victory to close out the season on December 17) at Candlestick.
Source: Wikipedia
